Easy Rice Laddu / Ari unda

Ari Unda is a very popular snack in Kerala. This is an easy version of the traditional Ari unda. With just  three  ingredients. 

Preparation: 

• Wash and soak the rice in water for an hour. Use any boiled variety of rice. 
• Drain the rice. Allow it to drain thoroughly. 
• Heat a thick bottomed pan in medium flame. Add the drained rice into the hot pan and dry roast it, Stir continuously. After some time the rice grains will start popping. Continue roasting until the popping sound comes down to a minimum. Remove from fire. Transfer to another bowl and allow to cool.
• Grind the cooled roasted rice in a mixer bowl. Do not grind to a fine powder. The ground powder should have the consistency of semolina.  
• You can do this step in advance. The roasted rice powder has great shelf life. Preserve in an air-tight container. 
• Grate the jaggery. 
• Grate fresh coconut. 
• In a mixing bowl add the rice powder. Add the grated coconut little by little and mix using your hand, then add the grated jaggery little by little and mix well until you can roll it into a ball like the chappati dough. 
• Take a little mix and roll into lemon  sized ball. Continue this until the whole dough is converted to lemon sized laddus.
• After a day, if any laddu i left over, you can refrigerate. Stays for a week. 

Ingredients: 

With the ingredients given below, i made 21 laddus. 

*Boiled Rice - 1 cup 

Jaggery - 1 cup 

Coconut - 1 cup 

*I used store bought Red Matta Rice. 

Below is the link to the Traditional AriUnda which has great shelf life.
http://ashasnairrajesh.blogspot.com/2016/05/ari-unda-rice-laddu.html 

Sago Idly and Tomato chutney

Sago / Sabudaana is extracted from the spongy center of the sago palm stems. It is also known as tapioca pearls. It is a wholesome diet of starch and carbohydrates. It is used as an easily digestible, non-irritating baby food. Sago is a source of pure carbohydrates, with very little protein, vitamin C, calcium and minerals. 

Preparation: 

• Mix sago, Rice rava, curd and salt. Add a cup of water and mix thoroughly. Sago needs lots of water to soften. Leave the mixture over-night. 
• Finely chop the green chilly and ginger. Grate the carrot. 
• Heat oil, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal.When he mustard seeds start spluttering, add the green chilly, ginger and curry leaves. When the raw smell is gone, remove from fire and add a pinch of asafeotida. Pour this into the batter.
• Add the grated carrot also into the batter. Mix well. Add salt if needed. 
• Lightly oil the idly molds. Pour the batter into the molds and  steam for 30 minutes  or until cooked, on medium flame. 
• Allow the molds to cool, then de-mold the idlies. If the molds aren't cooled well, idlies might break while demolding.  
• Serve with tomato chutney. 

Ingredients: 

Sago - 1 cup  
Rice Rava - 3/4 cup 

Curd - 1 cup 

Salt 

Green chilly - 2 small ones 

Ginger - 2 inch piece 

Carrot grated - 1/3 cup  

Oil - 1 table spoon 

Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon 

Urad dal (Split black gram) - 2 teaspoons 

Channa dal (Split Bengal gram)- 1 tablespoon 
Cashew nuts (small pieces) - 1 Tablespoon (optional)

Curry leaves- 1 sprig  

Tomato Chutney 

Preparation:

• Peel and chop/slice onions coarsely. 
• Chop the tomatoes coarsely.
• Heat coconut oil in a pan, add the whole dry red chillies and onions. Saute on medium flame for a minute. Then add the tomatoes and saute for a 3 minutes. Add salt to taste. Switch off the stove and allow the mixture to cool. 
• Grind it coarsely in the chutney bowl of a mixer. 
• Transfer to a serving bowl. 
• Heat coconut oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds. When it starts spluttering add the curry leaves. Switch off the stove. 
• Pour the seasoning over the tomato chutney and mix well.
• Serve along with Sago idly. 

Ingredients: 

Onion (medium size) - 2 

Tomato ( medium size) - 3 

Dry whole red chilly - 5 

Coconut oil -  11/2 tablespoons 

Salt to taste 

For seasoning:

Coconut oil -1 teaspoon 

Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon 

Curry leaves - a few 

• Note: Bigger sago pearls takes longer to cook. I used them. 
• Carrot and cashew nuts are optional. I added them. 
• If you prefer, you can avoid the seasoning of the tomato chutney. Chutney tastes good even without seasoning.